Man to appeal in Anderson’s death

A LaGrange man convicted in the shooting death of Troup High School football star Dazman Anderson was denied a new trial after a hearing Wednesday in Troup Superior Court.

Terry Lamar Hubbard, 23, immediately filed a notice of appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court after the hour-long hearing before Judge Quillian Baldwin.

His new lawyer, John Rasnick of Manchester, argued there wasn’t enough evidence to sustain a conviction and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at his trial in September 2006. Hubbard was sentenced to life plus five years for murder and possession of a gun during a crime.

Rasnick said defense lawyer Tony Axam of Atlanta didn’t interview all the witnesses and should have asked for a change of venue because of pre-trial publicity.

District Attorney Pete Skandalakis put Axam on the witness stand to make the point that Axam has been a criminal defense lawyer since 1977 and has tried hundreds of murder cases.

“He did everything possible given the facts of the case,” Skandalakis said.

He said there was “overwhelming” evidence against Hubbard, who “pursued Dazman Anderson down a walkway and shot him in the back.”

The 42 prospective jurors had been questioned privately about whether pretrial publicity would affect their ability to render a fair verdict. One juror was dismissed after saying he already had formed an opinion about the case.

Police said an argument led to the shooting on Oct. 4, 2005, at Lucy Morgan Homes on Revis Street. Hubbard’s sister, Niyokia Moreland, thought she was being talked about by Qcynthia Evans, who was visiting the Anderson family’s apartment, and the two women argued with each other from their back porches. Anderson, who was standing in the courtyard, argued with Hubbard, who was on his sister’s porch.

The dispute seemed to have ended, but Hubbard came out of the apartment with a handgun and fired at least one shot into the air, police said. Anderson, 16, and others took off running, but witnesses said Hubbard followed and shot Anderson in the back, piercing his heart.

“He died in on a porch stoop holding the hand of a friend (Omar Callaway) right next to a discarded Sprite can,” Skandalakis told the jury.

Moreland later clamed responsibility, but police already had interviewed Callaway, along with other witnesses, and “everybody said it was Hubbard,” Skandalakis said.

Hubbard, who had played football himself at LaGrange High, was arrested about two hours after the shooting at his home on Freeman Street. He gave a tape-recorded statement to detective Jeremy Jones denying involvement in the shooting. At the trial, Hubbard said he lied to police about not being at Lucy Morgan Homes that night because he was “scared.”

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews. com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.